Dick Blume/The Post Standard, file photo, 2009ÃÂState Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, shown in a file photo, announced on Wednesday his office sued four telemarketing companies, accusing them of using deceptive practices to solicit for contributions to charities. Syracuse, NY - While an undercover investigator listened, telemarketers raising money for Central New York charities deceived donors by hiding their true identity and lying about what their contribution would support, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo charged Wednesday.

An undercover officer worked for five days at Caring People Enterprises Inc., a Rochester firm, during a six-month investigation that culminated Wednesday with Cuomo filing lawsuits against four fundraising firms.

The officer overheard Caring People workers say, “It’s Tom calling from the Onondaga Volunteer Firemen’s Association” and “Hi, Jessie from our Vietnam Veterans of Central New York” as they solicited money for those charities.

The Caring People workers didn’t disclose — in violation of state law —they were employed by a professional fundraiser, one that pocketed more than 70 percent of the $2.5 million in donations it raised over the past three years, Cuomo alleged.

A man who answered the phone at Caring Peoples Enterprises said, “There’s no comment,” before hanging up.

As part of the probe, undercover officers made audio and video recordings at the fundraisers’ call centers.

To generate more donations, Caring People’s managers trained workers to deviate from the scripts approved by charities and make exaggerated claims about the services their donations would support, according to the lawsuit.

For instance, while soliciting for donations to the Vietnam Veterans of Central New York Foundation, workers were told to say that the charity runs “counseling programs, guidance programs, job searches and drug and alcohol programs” for veterans “coming back from Afghanistan,” the suit alleged.

The attorney general’s office is not alleging the charities were aware of the telemarketers’ violations.

Stage Door Music Productions and Caring People Enterprises kept more than two-thirds of the money the telemarketers raised in 2008 for a handful of Central New York charities, based on reports the charities filed with the state, Cuomo said in a 2009 report on charities.

Stage Door kept 75 percent of the $69,000 it raised for the Deputy Benevolent Sheriff’s Association of Onondaga County Inc. and 75 percent of the $20,000 it raised for the East Syracuse Police Benevolent Association, according to Cuomo’s office. Caring People kept 69 percent of the $103,000 it raised for the Onondaga County Volunteer Firemen’s Association and 67 percent of the $102,000 it raised for the Central New York Firemen’s Association, according to Cuomo’s report.